The Passion of Opera

Below is copy of a paper written for a Winter Term 2013 class at Lawrence University taught by Professor Jason Brozek called War and Popular Culture . I chose to fuse my interests in politics and music and focus on Verdi's Aïda  as a piece of culture representing war. Note that the photos included are not necessarily from the production I actually used for my reviews, nor are they necessarily connected to the section in which they appear. Rather, they are merely for flavor. TORN APART: HOW CONFLICTS PRESENTED BY GIUSEPPE VERDI’S AÏDA DEMONSTRATE OPERA’S CONTINUED RELEVANCE AS A COMMENTARY ON WAR & CULTURE     In a 21 st century world in which war and conflict remain pervasive and multivariate genres of music, music video, photography, and film serve as commentary, the relevance of classic mediums such as print, artwork, and classical music is difficult to discern. Opera, perhaps the most complicated form of classical music, onc...